A Primer on Our “Green” Farming Practices

We have some 10,000 acres of olive trees under cultivation in northern California. Consequently, my colleagues and I get get asked a lot about our “green” farming practices. We’re glad to tell people we use less water, recycle our waste, and minimize our use of fertilizer.

Here’s a look at our practices:

Reduced Water Use

We use half the water per acre that other orchard crops require. How? We use drip irrigation to water our trees. That means less water is lost to evaporation. Also, the “super high density (SHD) system” we use to plant our trees means we use less water, because our trees are planted closer together than trees in traditional olive groves.

The waste water is filtered and then used on our ranches for irrigation

The leftover olive fruit and pits, or pomace, are sold to cattle stockyards as cattle feed.

We also recycle all our tree trimmings. They’re mulched back into the soil on our ranches.

As a result, no waste is ever sent to a landfill.

Efficient Farming and Reduced Fertilizer Use

Very little of our land is “wasted.”

Our SHD growing process allows us to use the land more efficiently. We plant our semi-dwarf olive trees 575 to 670 trees per acre. That’s well below the traditional method of 100 to 150 trees per acre.

In addition to high yields per acre, the SHD method of olive cultivation requires much less fertilizer. Similarly, we “stress” our trees – much like vineyard operators do for wine grapes – to boost our oil output. That, too, means we can apply less fertilizer.

We are proudly a Chico, CA based company. In an effort to offer long-term support to those in our community who have been affected by the Camp Fire, we've set up a California Olive Ranch Camp Fire Relief Fund, supported through Golden Valley Bank Community Foundation. All donated money will go directly to rebuilding and supporting our surrounding community.

If you'd like to support this effort, follow the link below and select "California Olive Ranch," to make a paypal or credit card donation.

We are deeply grateful for all of the firefighters working tirelessly to contain the fires and for the support shown from folks around the world.